Overview

Students typically earn a Master of Science after completing the Astronomy program's second year at University of Maryland. A full schedule of courses covering most fields of astronomy is offered.

Some areas in which the faculty focus their research efforts are comets, interplanetary dust, planetary dynamics, extrasolar planets, star and planet formation, mm wavelength astronomy, the interstellar medium, black holes, active galaxies, time-domain astronomy, galaxy formation and evolution, plasma astrophysics, high energy astrophysics, theoretical and computational astrophysics, and cosmology.

The Department of Astronomy offers both teaching and research assistantships. Students making adequate progress toward degree completion will receive up to six years of funding through teaching and/or research assistantships. Research assistantships are either with faculty in the Department or with staff members at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center or other local astronomical research centers.

Facilities and Special Resources

The Department has guaranteed observing time on the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope through a partnership with Lowell Observatory. We have strong interactions with other major observatories, where many students and faculty maintain observing programs, and with neighboring scientific institutes, including the Naval Observatory, the Naval Research Lab, and other government agencies. We have joined with Caltech and other partners in the Zwicky Transient Facility, a time-domain survey for studying rare and exotic transient phenomena which will see first light at Palomar Observatory in 2017. Our planetary science team is heavily involved with space missions visiting solar system bodies, such as NASA’s Deep Impact, EPOXI, and Rosetta missions to study comets.

Programme Structure

Courses include:

Radiative Processes

Stellar Structure and Evolution

Astronomical Instrumentation and Techniques

Computational Astrophysics

Galaxies

Cosmology

Planetary Science

Interstellar Medium and Gas Dynamics

High Energy Astrophysics

Special Topics in Modern Astronomy

Special Problems in Advanced Astronomy

Key information

Duration

Full-time
- 12 months

Start dates & application deadlines

Starting 2027-08-26 00:00:00
- Apply before 2026-12-13 00:00:00

Language

English

TOEFL^® IBT

Schedule TOEFL®

PTE Academic

Schedule a PTE test!

IELTS

Prepare for Your English Test

Cathoven AI IELTS Preparation

Learn your IELTS Score

AI-powered IELTS feedback. Clear, actionable, and tailored to boost your writing & speaking score. No credit card or upfront payment required.

Trusted by 300k learners
98 accuracy using real exam data
4.9/5 student rating

Credits

30 SCH

Delivered

On Campus

Campus Location

College Park, United States

Disciplines

Astronomy & Space Sciences View 79 other Masters in Astronomy & Space Sciences in United States

Join for free or log in to access our complete career info list.

Academic requirements

GPA

GRE^®

Required

English requirements

TOEFL^® IBT

Schedule TOEFL®

PTE Academic

Schedule a PTE test!

IELTS

Prepare for Your English Test

Cathoven AI IELTS Preparation

Learn your IELTS Score

AI-powered IELTS feedback. Clear, actionable, and tailored to boost your writing & speaking score. No credit card or upfront payment required.

Trusted by 300k learners
98 accuracy using real exam data
4.9/5 student rating

Other requirements

General requirements

Statement of Purpose

Transcript(s)

TOEFL/IELTS/PTE (international graduate students)

Letters of Recommendation (3)

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

Supplementary Application

Description of Research: 1-2 page description of research and relevant work experience. It should include the topic of research, where it took place and who supervised it, the description of the actual activity (for example, “data reduction for a ground-based optical FTS instrument, wrote reduction software in Python”), whether there were resulting publications, what you learned from pursuing this activity, and what motivated you to pursue it.

Publications/Presentations

GRE Subject

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are shown in and the most likely applicable fee is shown based on your nationality.

International Applies to you

Applies to you

Non-residents

56340 USD / year

≈ 56340 USD / year
Out-of-State

56340 USD / year

≈ 56340 USD / year
Domestic

Applies to you

In-State

26340 USD / year

≈ 26340 USD / year

Living costs

College Park

United States

1676 - 2838 USD / month

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Financing

Interested in financing your studies? Find a student loan that works for you.

MPOWER Financing No cosigner. No collateral. No hidden fees.

Check your Eligibility

Get the funding you need to study in the U.S. or Canada - with a process that's fast, simple, and built for international students.

Flexible loans from US$2,001 to US$100,000
Fixed interest rates -- no inflation surprises
No upfront fees or prepayment penalties
Accepted at 500+ universities across the U.S. & Canada
100% online application -- instant conditional offer
Free visa & career support through our Path2Success program

Funding

Win a €10000 Scholarship! Deadline: 30 June 2020

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

Win a €10000 Scholarship! Deadline: 30 June 2020

Embark on your journey with the Studyportals Scholarship! We're giving away a total of 20,000 euros to help you achieve your dream of studying abroad.

In order for us to give you accurate scholarship information, we ask that you please confirm a few details and create an account with us.

Scholarships Information

Below you will find Master's scholarship opportunities for Astronomy.

Available Scholarships

You are eligible to apply for these scholarships but a selection process will still be applied by the provider.

On this page

About

Overview

Facilities and Special Resources

Programme Structure

Key information

Duration

Start dates & application deadlines

Language

Prepare for Your English Test

Credits

Delivered

Campus Location

Disciplines

What students do after studying

Academic requirements

English requirements

Prepare for Your English Test

Other requirements

General requirements

Tuition Fees

International Applies to you

Domestic

Living costs

College Park

Financing

Funding

Scholarships Information

Available Scholarships

Our partners